The Vernon Sun Valley Source For Sports Tier 2 Bantam Vipers hockey team posing for their team picture made it into the final cut of the documentary film Hockey 24, which aired Canada-wide Sunday, May 24, on Sportsnet. (Melissa Jacobs - Inspire Kindness Productions screenshot)

The Vernon Sun Valley Source For Sports Tier 2 Bantam Vipers hockey team posing for their team picture made it into the final cut of the documentary film Hockey 24, which aired Canada-wide Sunday, May 24, on Sportsnet. (Melissa Jacobs - Inspire Kindness Productions screenshot)

Vernon minor hockey players make cut for documentary

Hockey 24 includes Austin Seibel and his Vernon Tier 2 Bantam teammates, filmed by Coldstream woman

No tuxedo. No evening gown. No limousine. No walk on the red carpet. No champagne. No ginger ale.

No clue they were even in the movie.

But there was Coldstream minor hockey goalie Austin Seibel, Vernon Sun Valley Source For Sports Vipers Tier 2 Bantam teammates Quinn Scambler and Logan Killingbeck and the rest of the Vipers team showing up for a grand total of maybe 10 seconds in the 90-minute Scotiabank documentary film Hockey 24, which made its national debut Sunday, May 24, on Sportsnet.

Hockey 24 is a first-of-its-kind documentary about community hockey in Canada, all filmed on a single day. On Sunday Nov. 17, 2019, Scotiabank asked Canadians to join award-winning filmmakers in filming their day in community hockey, both on and off the ice, then submit their footage.

“I’m so excited,” said Coldstream’s Melissa Jacobs – Seibel’s aunt – Sunday night shortly after the documentary aired. She did the filming of her nephew, following him and his teammates for 10 hours on Nov. 17 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“I didn’t know any of my footage would be used. They (producers) never let me know if my film made it into the documentary.”

A teacher at Kidston Elementary School by day, Jacobs is owner-operator of Inspire Kindness Productions, a not-for-profit organization that supports local families nominated by the community. Since she started in 2018, Jacobs and her love of filmmaking have helped 22 families in the Okanagan through fundraisers and Inspire Kindness bags.

When the call came out for the hockey documentary, Jacobs grabbed her camera and spent the day with her nephew, his family and teammates. She edited her 10 hours ​of footage into a 5-minute 39-second video, posted to her Inspire Kindness Productions’ YouTube channel under the title of Hockey 24: A Day in the Life of Austin Seibel.

“She followed our family around for the whole day,” said Seibel’s father Trevor, also a hockey netminder and chief administrative officer for the District of Coldstream. “She was there for breakfast and followed us to the rink. It happened to be minor hockey’s picture day and the boys were waiting for their photos and they had a game against Kelowna.

“Austin made something like 40 saves and the game ended in a 2-2 tie.”

The Seibels also had no idea their son was in the documentary.

“We didn’t get any kind of heads up,” said Trevor. “It was pretty cool to see Austin and his team make it onto the documentary.”

Austin Seibel, who was named Greater Vernon Minor Hockey’s 2019-20 Goalie of the Year and Most Valuable Player in the Bantam division, appears approximately 30 minutes into the documentary, in a segment where players are showing various medals and ribbons they’ve won that hang proudly in their bedrooms. Seibel gets on for about three seconds showing off a banner he received for game MVP at a tournament in Spain.

About 10 minutes later, he reappears in the film, along with Scambler, Killingbeck and the Bantam Vipers in a montage of team photos.

“It was a fun day,” said Jacobs.

Hundreds of people were listed in the film’s end credits, though Jacobs said it went by so fast she couldn’t make out her name.

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